"You sold me so Lord Oden wouldn't die with regrets?"
Ashura Doji's expression twisted with fury. He gripped his sword hilt with both hands and roared:
"Fine. Fine! Then let me see why Lord Oden would die with regrets!"
"Ryuo: Armor-Piercing Slash!"
His katana was instantly engulfed in a surge of powerful Armament Haki.
In the next moment, his entire body coiled like a spring, then exploded forward like a dragon breaching the sea, slashing down at Luo Yu once more.
BOOM!
The impact burst outward like a hurricane.
The shockwave and flying debris sent the surrounding samurai tumbling.
The thick stone beneath their feet cracked and collapsed under the force.
After the strike, Ashura Doji quickly glanced toward Nekomamushi and Inuarashi.
But the moment he did, his pupils shrank in disbelief.
He had assumed that invoking the name of Kozuki Oden and the Akazaya Nine would stir their loyalty—that they'd leap to his aid.
He never imagined…
They ran.
In a flash, they had darted seventy or eighty meters away.
Ashura Doji's mind reeled with disbelief.
Was this boy really that terrifying?
Terrifying enough to make Nekomamushi and Inuarashi abandon all sense of duty and flee?
He couldn't believe they'd truly forgotten their debt to Lord Oden.
Just as these chaotic thoughts swirled in his mind, Ashura saw Luo Yu through the swirling dust—raising his wine gourd and looking up.
A wave of indescribable pressure swept over him like a storm.
"Sorry. Honestly, twenty million isn't bad—I quite like it."
"But if I want Fleet Admiral Sengoku to pay up without complaint, I need you to show me your full strength. Otherwise, I can't justify saying you're worth even that much."
BOOM!
Luo Yu's dormant Conqueror's Haki erupted.
It surged like a tidal wave, crashing down on Ashura Doji.
"Conqueror's Haki… just like Lord Oden's?"
"But if you think that alone can intimidate me, you're underestimating me!"
Ashura's expression shifted, but he gripped his sword tighter and charged straight into the storm of Haki.
He knew Conqueror's Haki was rare—a mark of a true king.
That Luo Yu possessed it was surprising.
But Ashura didn't believe that something Oden had could so easily shake him.
"Ashura, you fool! His Conqueror's Haki isn't like Lord Oden's!"
"It doesn't just intimidate—it subjugates! Get out of there!"
Inuarashi shouted in panic.
Ashura blinked.
Wasn't all Conqueror's Haki the same?
But before he could finish the thought, he charged forward, determined to push through the storm and strike again.
Unfortunately, the moment he entered the field of Haki—
His face twisted in shock.
It was like slamming into an invisible steel wall.
The overwhelming force hit him like a tsunami.
It felt no different from Kaido's Thunder Bagua.
BOOM!
The massive wave of Conqueror's Haki slammed into him.
Ashura coughed up blood and was launched like a cannonball.
He crashed into a rocky mountain hundreds of meters away.
The impact shattered the cliffside, embedding his massive body deep into the rubble.
The samurai who followed Ashura stared in disbelief.
In their eyes, Ashura was someone even Kaido had taken an interest in.
He'd fought Jack the Drought multiple times and held his own.
And now?
He'd been blown away by a single glare?
Was this a joke?
"Ashura, stop already! Twenty million is a good deal!"
"After boarding the ship, we felt like we were the lucky ones!"
Nekomamushi shouted from 300 meters away.
Inuarashi looked toward the rubble and added:
"Ashura, we're not trying to hurt you. You don't want Lord Oden to die with regrets either. Please, stop!"
"Die with regrets?"
From the rubble, Ashura Doji struggled to his feet, gripping his katana tightly. His face twisted with rage.
"Shut up! You who've forgotten your honor have no right to speak of Lord Oden!"
"Let's see if it's you or me who's making him turn in his grave!"
"Let's see how long you can keep standing there, acting smug!"
With that, Ashura's muscles tensed to the limit. His spirit surged.
Armament Haki and Ryuo exploded from his body.
In the next instant, he launched forward like a cannonball.
"Oden Two-Sword Style: Paradise Totsuka!"
BOOM!
A cross-shaped slash tore through the air like it was ripping the heavens apart.
The ground and even space itself split open in its wake.
The hundreds of meters between them vanished in a blink.
Ashura's eyes locked onto Luo Yu's rapidly enlarging figure.
He was desperate to know—after decades of secretly mastering Oden's two-sword style…
How far had he come?
Even if he couldn't seriously injure Luo Yu—
Surely he could pierce that "turtle shell" of his?
But just as the thought formed—
The sight before him left him dumbfounded.
If the Thousand-Armed Kannon cloaked in Armament Haki had already seemed unbreakable…
Then now, the towering, monstrous form of Susanoo enveloping Luo Yu—
It made Ashura feel one thing:
Could his decades of training really break through that shell?
In that moment, he finally understood why Nekomamushi and Inuarashi had fled at the first sign of trouble.
Why they'd invoked Lord Oden's name with such desperation.
Were they saying… he was the one making Lord Oden die with regrets?